Novak Djokovic recovers from poor third set to continue Wimbledon title bid

Seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic safely progressed into the fourth round but only after he narrowly avoided being served a bagel during a hard-fought win over 25th seed Arthur Rinderknech.

Djokovic suffered a shock exit in the last 32 of the French Open last month, and while he prevented a repeat at the All England Club on Friday afternoon, a 7-5 6-4 1-6 7-6 (4) victory only told half the story for the 24-time grand slam singles winner.

Frenchman Rinderknech had been two points away from dishing out the 13th 6-0 score of Djokovic’s career during an extraordinary 18-minute third set on Centre Court, but the 39-year-old avoided that unwanted feat and regrouped in set four to go through.

Seventh seed Djokovic would have expected to face his Roland Garros conqueror and highly rated 19-year-old Joao Fonseca next, but he was outfoxed by Roman Safiullin earlier in the day.

Qualifier Safiullin produced 41 winners during a dominant display, but has lost all three previous meetings with Djokovic.

This was Djokovic’s 105th singles win at Wimbledon, which brought him level with Roger Federer, and he said: “I propose a match-up between me and Roger for 106. Let’s just stop it here and call Roger to come!

“It was a really tight, really close match and happy to overcome it. Sometimes you just have to find a way to win and I did that.”

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Djokovic had eased past Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round, but joked it would be nice to play outdoors following two evening slots under the Centre Court roof.

He got his wish on day five in front of a crowd that included Usain Bolt, but a first break to go 3-2 up was followed by a slip, which enabled Rinderknech to